Episode 01 – An Angel’s Attack (使徒、襲来)
Tanks guarding the coastal areas of Japan
This is one of the first few scenes shown in the series. The tanks from UN, now playing the role of a military organisation, guards the coastal areas of Japan leading to Tokyo 3 against the invasion of angels. The JSSDF generals were confident that they have adequate firepower to halt the angels in their footsteps, thus negating the need for the huge funding channeled to the construction and maintenance of Evangelion machines. Note how the colour of the sea has changed in Rebuild – it has turned red instead of the normal blue.
First shot of Ikari Shinji
Shinji’s is first introduced to the audience as he makes a call to Misato. His character did not change significantly after the remake. Changes in the background is subtle – richer colours and warmer skin tones. In addition, they have made the facial features and dimensions of the characters constant throughout the film, unlike in the older anime where distortions were common due to falling production funds (thus sloppier work, I guess).
Shinji disappointingly hangs up after hearing the pre-recorded message from the phone operator that the network was down during an impending angel attack. The background was greatly enriched with details in the remake, while the blue road sign was removed.
Shinji tells himself to head for the shelter and then find Misato later. In the remake, Shinji now carries a greyish school bag instead, while the rest of his character design didn’t change much.
Look here!
Misato sends Shinji a provocative photo of herself. Note how Misato’s character design was change too – her face looks a little slimmer and her cleavage got kind of bigger. Her hair looks less like a wig in the remake *sniggers* due to the outrageous amount of reflection from her hair in the older scene.
Ghostly image of Rei
Shinji looks around and Rei’s ghostly figure suddently appears on the road ahead of him, admist the heated road under the summer sun (there is significant blurring of the image in the remake due to convection currents, I assume). Note the amount of vegetation added to the disused streets too.
An explosion roars
Shortly after Shinji’s witness of the ghostly Rei, an explosion roars across the street level and Shinji was temporarily deafened. Wires swing and oscillate in the air while the traffic lights flickr. Also note the rather abundant amount of vegetation in the remake.
Arrival and attack of Sachiel
Sachiel, the third angel in the old anime and the fourth in the remake, appears from the hill behind Shinji – this position was only established in the remake as Shinji was shown turning around to arrive at this view. A group of UN fighter planes / copters were seen surrounding Sachiel, getting ready for an assault.
The figher planes / copters launched several missiles towards Sachiel and it was slightly thrown backwards by the explosion. Its AT field has neutralised the damaging effects. The explosions were coloured yellowish-orange in the remake.
The designs of the UN planes / copters were kept intact but you can see that they were redrawn with greater attention to detail. The background hills were also given more colour saturation.
The attacks on Sachiel were useless, only to provoke Sachiel to use its light saber that protrudes from its arm on them. Sachiel striked back. The remake gives a panoramic view of the battle scene, with greater details in the background and better lighting effects.
Sachiel leaped from street level with a huge glow and shockwave, ripping rooftiles off the building in the foreground. The better lighting effects of the remake is very obvious here.
Misato arrives to pick Shinji up
Misato arrives in the same blue car to pick Shinji up and get him to the Nerv headquarters. She apologizes for being late. The smokes in the background were no longer orange but grey – now that’s more realistic!
In the command center
Officers and UN generals in the Nerv command center witness the neutralising effect of the AT field on Sachiel. In the remake they have added live view to the huge screen in the command centre instead of just having officers to shout descriptions in the older version.
Sachiel unharmed by air strikes
The flames in the background are more detailed in the remake, and Sachiel is not perfectly centered – it was filmed from a perspective from it’s left in the remake. The overall design of Sachiel did not change much though.
The N2 mine
The UN army uses the N2 land mine on Sachiel, as figher plans flee from the vicinity as seen by Misato from her binoculars. I like how they’ve modernised the screen interface of Misato’s new binoculars. The landscape is lush green in the remake instead of resembling that of a barran desert in the original anime.
Misato self-introduces herself to Shinji
The changes made to Misato mainly involves her facial feature – she got bigger eyes and a slimmer face while sporting the same hairstyle and outfit.
Shinji thanks Misato for saving him from the town earlier on. Note the differences between the scene in the remake and in the original anime.
Sachiel rehabilitating from the land mine
The N2 mine only melted away part of Sachiel and failed to annihilate it completely. Sahciel is shown rehabilitating from its injuries before the next strike. Sachiel’s second bony mask appears from the underneath, and glows with two red ‘eyes’.
First few of Gendo Ikari
Gendo listens to the UN generals’ acknowledgement that their ammunition is inadequate to kill Sachiel. Gendo replies that this is why Nerv exists. He pushes up his glasses, a signature action of his throughout the anime series (and expectedly, in future films).
The train ride into Geofront
Misato asks Shinji about his knowledge of his father’s work, and he replies that his teacher / guardian (sensei in Japanese has several meanings) told him that his father is doing something great that protects mankind from harm. He frowns as he recalls how his father has abandoned him after his mother’s death / disappearance.
Misato asks Shinji for the letter Nerv has sent him. The letter seemed to have been torn up by Shinji and later put together by tapes again. Gendo blacked out all the unnecessary customary words and wrote – ‘Just come’. Shinji had obviously scribbled over his father’s handwriting with a red pen. The ID card passed to him has a greater level of details in the remake.
First view of the interior of Geofront (a.k.a. the Black Moon)
You have a brief glimpse of the interior of Geofront (which is also known as the Black Moon, where Lilith’s body is contained underneath), shown with plenty of man-made buildings hanging from the ceiling – they are actually skyscrapers retracted from the street-level of Tokyo-3 to avoid being destroyed in the ensuing Angel’s attack. The sun rays seemed to be shining in the opposite direction – in the remake, they have taken into account the orientation of Geofront relative to the sun at different times of a day. It was evening when Shinji arrives at Geofront.
In the elevator
A closeup on the details of the dials and plates above the elevator door. It is a little werid in the remake because it was deduced that the first digit of the floor number actually represents ‘B’ in the original anime. In the remake, they show that it’s actually ’8′. Hmmm.
Misato’s reflection in the elevator door.
Ritsuko’s face appears at the exact spot when the door opens. I do not know the significance of this but there has to be a meaning behind it. Ritsuko looks less angrier in the remake – in the original anime, her eyebrows were locked.
Ritsuko forces her way into the elevator while Misato backs off. In the original anime, Ritsuko was wearing a one-piece swimsuit topped with a white lab coat as she was doing inspections in a pool. In the remake, the scene was thrown out and for contiunuity reasons, she was shown wearing regular office wear. And look! Shinji is reading a blank page of the book in the original anime – they’ve corrected this glitch in the remake.
Misato introduces Shinji to Ritsuko. Shinji stammers as his looks at Ritsuko – I guess Ritsuko looks intimidating and serious and that unnerved (no, this is not a pun) Shinji.
First view of Professor Fuyutsuki
As Gendo excuses himself from the command center to meet Shinji in the ‘hangar’ where Evangelion Unit 01 is stored, Fuyutuski comments that this is the first time in years that Gendo is meeting his son.
First view of Unit 01
Shinji is surprised to find himself standing in front of the huge Evangelion Unit 01 after being accompanied by Misato and Ritsuko into a dark room. Shinji asks if this is what his father’s work is about, and that’s when Gendo appears on the glass floor above Unit 01.
Shinji avoids eye contact with Gendo as he could not understand why his father abandoned him for the Evangelion Project (known as Project E). Shinji is unwilling to pilot Unit 01 although Ritsuko tells him that he is the pilot. Gendo sees this and uses a mind trick to force Shinji to pilot, by bringing out the severely injured Rei (due to a previously botched Unit 00 activation test).
First view of Rei
Rei stares blankly into space although Shinji is right beside the passing bed, staring at her. Rei’s plugsuit was redrawn with greater details and three-dimensional lighting effects.
Panting heavilty, Rei struggles to get out of bed despite her serious injuries. The doctor and nurses that wheeled her bed out was not seen to be giving her any aid of all sorts – perhaps it was part of Gendo’s plan to make Shinji to sympathise Rei’s dire condition and voluntarily pilot Unit 01.
An explosion caused by the attacking beams of light from Sachiel triggers intense vibration of the garage, causing Rei to fall of her bed. Shinji sprints forward to help her up, only to see her writhing in great pain. The old anime version is notorious for obvious distortion of facial features such that the faces of characters changes from scene to scene. For this time, they’ve ironed out this problem and Rei’s face look better now. There’s almost a more 3D lighting effect to the face.
Shinji finds his hand stained with Rei’s blood – this is a recurring theme in the anime. Note the lens blur on the background in the remake version.
Preparing Evangelion Unit 01 for Launch
Maya is seen working on the pilot synchronisation process. The light source from the display she is working on has been made significant in the remake, alongside with other lighting effects. Misato is shown to be slightly shorter than Ritsuko.
Insertion of entry plug into Unit 01. The entire scene was remade with better 3D effects and lighting.
To start the synchronisation process, the entry plug is to be filled with LCL. Shinji holds his breath, afraid of drowning until Ritsuko convinces him that it LCL is a liquid-assisted breathing system. In the original anime, after breathing in LCL, Shinji says Kimochi Warui, a famous ending line for the series as well (in Episode 26′ of NGE). Ritsuko berates him for being too concerned with details. This part was excluded from the anime, which foretells a probably different ending for the film version of NGE.
All going good for the synchronisation process. The basic designs did not vary too much from the original anime, but if you scrutinise closely you’ll notice a hue of colours across the screen instead of the original solid green. Lighting effect has been improved as well, as seen in the bright backlighting.
Frontal view of the Evangelion Unit 01. Unit 01 was overall made to be more slender, with a narrower torso in the remake. Neon green, glow-in-the-dark painted plates were added to Unit 01 as well.
Shoulder restraints are removed during the preparation process.
I salute the director’s effort to preserve the originality of the scene- nothing was changed, only more intrinsic details are added, with a more three-dimensional effect.
Bolts are released during the preparation process.
View of the shoulder plates / armours. In the remake, the camera pans around the view.
Frontal, bottom-up view of Unit 01. A lot of fine details were added to the scene, especially the blocks holding the arms in place (which are moving away from the screen, to the left).
Transporting Unit 01 to the launching pad. They have removed the mesh in the foreground in the remake. This gives you a gorgeous side view of Unit 01.
At the launching pad, Unit 01 prepares for launching to the streets of Tokyo 3.
Sachiel fights Unit 01
Sachiel arrives near the opening of the chute where Unit 01 will appear. It seems to have a fore-knowledge in the city’s strucutre. More vehicles were added to the roads, as well as street lights, for a more dramatic effect.
The road opens up to reveal the chute, revealing the detailed mechanisms in the remake.
Unit 01 appears from the chute, its head lifting as a result of the motion. Look at the glow-in-the-dark neon paints! It’s working magic now.
Shinji breathes harder as he gets increasingly nervous when he sees the angel opposite to him, on the other side of the street.
It is One of my favourites which include Naruto too … Watch it 3 years ago … “The new edition”
The only regret is cannot really get the ending of the anime, even after watching it twice … “Haha …”
Really hope can watch it again …
U ever watch Gundam Series ?
Check out Eric’s last blog post: Gundam 00
I never really got into evangelion – I was more into sakura wars – and even gundam wing to a certain extent!
I’m gettin gback into my anime atm though – watching cardcaptor sakura and sailor moon atm! vintage stuff! :P
Check out Han’s last blog post: Dead Cat
Beautiful changes. They’ve 2000-ified an ancient anime! The drawings are definitely better though I don’t like the green accent on the 01. It makes it look like a cheap toy from a vending machine. I also don’t like the change in Lilith’s mask. I mean, isn’t her mask the logo of the organization?! It takes away from the meaning of the logo then! -__-;;
I’ve watched NGE so many time I think I’ll skip on the rebuilt versions. Maybe I’ll watch the final movie if there will be changes in the ending. :)
Check out Ivy’s last blog post: Tea of the Mist
@Eric: Yay! I actually enjoyed the Naruto anime too, but the filler episodes bored me because the anime was catching up with the manga’s publishing. It just puzzles me that why so many animes have to get progressively darker… like how Sasuke turned to Orochimaru for power, and how the storyline starts to wrap around psychological hardships of the Evangelion pilots. The ‘new edition’ that you’re mentioned – are you referring to the director’s cut? They’ve included a lot of bonus scenes from Episode 21 to 24 for the director’s cut. Oh and for the ending of NGE, do you mean the original Episodes 25 and 26 or the later version of the film (Evangelion: Death and Rebirth)? The old one is very confusing (and disappointing as well)… the later version suits the context of the anime better :) I am yet to watch Gundam, but I heard it’s awesome!
@Han: Cardcaptor Sakura! One of the greatest animes around, but sadly I couldn’t find a friend who has it (so I can get from them instead of using my crappy Internet connection to download it). I’ve watched Sailormoon when I was a kid, but mom banned me from it later because she thought that it’ll make me… girlish / unmasculine. Whatever :roll:
@Ivy: “They’ve 2000-ified an ancient anime!” – Well said! They’ve redrawn the scenes and make them even better. For now, we don’t have to settle for odd shapes of the characters’ faces finally (the body shape and facial structures of the characters change subtly among different episodes). Yea I don’t quite get the reason why they’ve traded the good ol’ purple for a helluva neon green on Unit01! And the neon green makes Unit01 glow in the dark, which makes it a better target for the Angels, heh. For the same thing, I’m appalled by the change in Lilith’s mask. I heard that they’ve now used that design for SEELE’s new logo instead. Have you seen the new NERV logo? It’s the same old one but have an inverted apple in the background. Rebuild of Evangelion 4.0 is speculated to have an alternate ending (or a continuity to the last two episodes of the anime)… now I’m looking forward to that!
Wow, Lilith looks freaky! :shock: Note to self: Do not look at eerie things after having two days of nightmares. =P
My brother used to be into NGE. He was more of the anime person out of the both of us! However, I have sat down and watched some eps with him and.. well, I still am not an anime person, but I am not the person who disses those who are.
Btw, I just upgraded to WP 2.5. Delayed I know, but the links that you sent to me via email helped! I am still getting used to the new features and the changes, but I think I can manage. Thanks again!
Check out Id’s last blog post: Afterwards, We Had Coffee.
the camera in the Toji and Kensuke screen shot also looks more modern! spot the differences game :lol:
Check out lix’s last blog post: the final straw
@Id: Yea Lilith does look a little freaky, but it’ll be freakier in the original anime episode because it has seven eyes (that got me stunned a little when I first saw Lilith). I didn’t watch any animes besides Naruto (and stopped when they started releasing the filler episodes – I find them a little boring) before being introduced to NGE by my ex-roommate. He was watching halfway through the series when I knew about it, so after that I rewatched the entire thing 3 times :) but that doesn’t make me an otaku! Haha. I don’t go great lenghts to participate in cosplay events or stock up huge amounts of NGE memorabilia. Anyway for the WP2.5 thing, you’re welcome! The new features are really exciting, although a little inconvenient to new WP users because the old admin layout is almost completely scrapped.
@lix: Yes! It has larger lenses this time, and has a more metallic feeling to it. In the original anime, his camera looks like, no offence, a piece of cheap plastic :razz: lol!
Haha … Me watching long time ago which borrow from a friend …
I think should be the latest one … About the detail … Sorry I really forgotten.
I am plan to get myself a copy of the whole set later but not so soon … May be next year …
The Gundam series, the latest one is “00″ … Just finish watching it last few weeks which consist 25 episodes for the part 1 … Part 2 will only start in end of this year …
Totally recommended …!
Check out Eric’s last blog post: Gundam 00
I never knew that NGE had a remake of it!! I gotta go and download it now too!
I most definitely agree… it was such a huge hit because of the psychological state of each child’s sufferings. Though I am disappointed the Rebuild doesn’t have Asuka, as she doesn’t come in until many episodes afterwards anyhow. Thanks for sharing this!
Check out Destiny’s last blog post: Planter of Death
@Eric: Same here! I didn’t have the NGE DVD with me, so I borrowed it from a friend (and ripped it into my harddisk, in case I needed it later). Since I had the Director’s Cut version, I’m not intending to purchase a collector’s copy for the original anime, but I would love to wait for all the 4 promised Rebuild of Evangelion films to be released, purchase the whole DVD set :) heh.
@Destiny: Same here! I only got to know about it a month ago when I was searching Youtube for NGE when a whole list of new trailers came out. But I spent another month finding where to download the movie! The one I’ve downloaded is a camera rip from a Japan cinema with no subtitles. But since I’ve watched the original anime version, I know more or less what they’re talking about :) teehee. The first film doesn’t have Asuke because she only appears after Episode 8 (?) and the first film only covers the first six episodes of the anime. I love Asuka because she’s very noisy and brings some life into the anime :D
wow, those changes are awesome. and I never watched this anime. I watched Naruto for like 2 years but I stopped because I had my SPM examinations. I wish I could start watching Naruto back! isk..isk..isk…
Check out Aisyah’s last blog post: New Theme – My Scrapbook
@Aisyah: Yep! They’ve redrawn everything, which justifies the need for a remake. I’ve watched Naruto for 2+ years too, but gave up along the way as I got busier towards the end of my college studies. Now I’m so out of touch with Naruto, I couldn’t muster enough interest to continue. How sad :sad:
hey teddy :grin:
i am also an eva-lover!
though i haven’t watched the movie yet :oops:
i’ll have to when summer comes around! :mrgreen:
Check out tina’s last blog post: first post! :)
@tina: High-five!!! :razz: teehee. The film is relatively new, and I think there’s no reputable subtitle release yet (for non-Japanese-speaking audience). You’ll have to wait a little now, but I think it’ll be done by summer!
[...] Hikaru (宇多田 ヒカル), before I start writing. It is also the official song for the film Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0, in case you’re wondering. I love the song because despite of the cheerful title, the lyrics [...]
it the 6th angel as Nerv started with 3 in their pocket and not 2 in the new story. i guess they are pumping up the “infighting” abit more… we should be getting more backstory on this version.
Where can i download the Rebuild Of Evangelion:Destruction(Episode 2)???????????????????????????????????please help me!! :sad:
As far as I know, it’s not out yet.
But i have a 2nd rebuild movie right?If the movie is out please do tell me…..i am the evanglion hardfans………k thanx 4 d information……… :wink:
I’m sorry what i mean is IT MUST HAVE THE SECOND MOVIE OUT right?thanx… :???:
Very nice comparison, thanks! I noticed two places where the image addresses are incorrect (they link to the images right above them):
episode one — Sachiel’s leap
episode two — Gendo’s meeting with Seele members
The images are there, they’re just not linked correctly.
@virtus: Thanks for informing me of the problem. I’ve rectified it. Oh, and new screenshots and comparisons for Episodes 3 to 6 will be coming soon as well :)
Hey there! These comparison shots are fantastic. I’ve heard a lot about the making of this, and it’s actually not just a remake, though they’re trying hard not to make that sound like a sequel either, hence ‘Rebuild’.
The changes that are beyond cosmetic are likely very intentional, given the chalk-outline opening scene. Making the water red in pretty much all scenes, for example, and moving Lilith’s mask from her to the Seele monoliths. Also strange things I don’t get, like the track number and time change of Shinji’s music player. Only the seconds remain the same number. When everything is so faithfully re-rendered, a change like this is suspicious.
While I don’t know because I haven’t seen the rest, could this be the result of Shinji’s wish…? A chance to try again? It’s my speculations :p
Thanks for the compliments, Chris! Actually I’m not done with the comparison yet (I’m stuck around episode 3 or something), I couldn’t find the time to crop the screenshots and composite them into images and then upload them.
Many people got this impression that Gainax is just treating the Evangelion series as an awesome cash cow, since the Rebuild, with largely similar storyline for the first installment of the 4-film series (as compared to the original anime), had earned them considerable amount of money.
Cosmetic changes aside, there are indeed several aspects of the new storyline that might signify a change in how things turn out for the next few films – like how they’ve axed a few angels out of the series, the puzzling change of Lilith’s face, the change in the SEELE and NERV logos and etc. Indeed, it’s suspicious when the animators took great pain to faithfully recreate many of the insignificant minute details (like the passengers on the train, the clutter on Misato’s apartment).
I can’t help but speculate too!
[...] par vous même si vous allez voir quelques uns des centaines de montages comparatifs réalisés par un blogueur, sur teddy-o-ted.com (prenez note qu’il y en a sur 6 pages…). Donc même si la grande majorité des scènes [...]
Great side-by-side comparison- but this could have done with some discussion of vitally important scenes in the original that *weren’t* in Rebuild, perhaps most interestingly the failure of EVA-01 to reach out by itself and deflect the falling beams from hitting Shinji.
Thanks for the compliments! My review is more on the aesthetic and visual aspect of the remake, and less on the technicalities. I’m not an Eva expert too so I guess it shouldn’t weigh on the storyline changes, but I’m excited to see how the next few films play out differently from the animated series :)
This was a pretty awesome series it reminded me of Gundam Wing. I miss old shows like this on toonami and adult swim.
Just the type of iinhsgt we need to fire up the debate.
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